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Missions is urgent

“The default of our lives is hell,” David Platt–head pastor of the mega church Brook Hills, in Birmingham, Alabama and the author of the New York Times Best Seller Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream–stated to a room of more than 700 people. I felt like my entire mentality surrounding the unreached peoples of the world was shattered, while at the same time, the overwhelming truth that Christ chose me sunk into my soul even deeper.

But David Platt wasn’t talking about me. He was talking about what I should be doing for “that innocent, unreached guy in Africa who has never had the opportunity to hear the gospel.” The guy who is headed straight to hell without the gospel. The fact is, that innocent, unreached guy does not exist in Africa, Papua Indonesia, Mongolia, China, or in any nation on earth.

God is just, which means he’s fair, right?

We think that God would never send anyone to hell who doesn’t have a chance to hear about Jesus. That’s not fair. Unfortunately, God isn’t fair in our sense of the word. Rather, he’s just, which is what makes his face so incredibly perfect and beautiful to look upon, and his presence so soul-fulfilling to stand in. But, his justice also means that no one is righteous (Romans 3:10), because in the face of his utter perfection, our layers of lies and prejudices become starkly obvious. David Platt’s flow of logic went something like this:

God has revealed himself to all people through creation

All people reject God

Therefore, there are no innocent, righteous people in the world

All people are condemned for rejecting God, regardless of whether they’ve heard of Jesus

What is our reaction?

4.5 billion people are headed to hell. We do not have the time to waste coasting through our lives, living for ourselves. We have all been given the command to use our gifts and resources to spread the Gospel in order to bring glory to God. Jesus says the harvest is now. What are you waiting for? (Honestly, I want to hear your response, what is keeping you from spreading the truth presented in the Bible?).

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5 thoughts on “Missions is urgent”

You know, I think one of the major flaws of the mainstream, modern church is its hyper focus on evangelizing. Don’t get me wrong–I think evangelism and missions are great things, but I think that the people who are great at it were given that gift by God. In the mainstream church, I think those people with hearts for sharing the gospel are, rightfully, in the positions of leadership and they get so carried away with how much they are going to do with the gift for missions God has given them, that they encourage everyone they know, and the people they are leaders of, to do the same. What I think is lost is that the gift of missions is not in every single person. Every single person is not made by God to go out evangelizing like Nate Saint. Some people are, but many other people are given spiritual gifts in other ways. People should be allowed to use the spiritual gifts God gives them, which may be sharing the gospel in ways like making art (not art that has to be religious mind you), or teaching (not teaching that has to be religious either), or taking care of people. Some people share the gospel by living their lives and God gives them gifts to do it that way. Those people shouldn’t be made to feel like it’s their duty to spread the gospel the same way someone who is given the gift of missions does. God gives gifts for different purposes, but I feel like in the mainstream church, everyone’s spiritual gift is supposed to be the same thing and often times it’s the same as the person leading, who has a gift for missions and therefore treats everyone like they have that same gift. I don’t know if that’s right or if I’m wrong, but that’s what I think.

I totally agree that each of us should be able to use our specific gifts to do missions. I think that following our passions, gifts, and resources to opportunities to share the gospel (whether through works or words) is exactly what each of us is called to. For example, I definitely don’t have the gift of “evangelism,” but I try to practice listening to people and caring for their physical needs, and conversations naturally arise out of time we spend together.